Glass-convexing furnace.



W. G. WAGHS L R; L. GALLUP.

'.'GLASS CONVBXING PURNAGE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1s, 191s. 1,1 18,976. Patented Dec. 1,1914-,

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

vv. G. WAUHS a1 R. L. GALLUP. GLASS CONVEXING `RNCE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.18.1913. 1,1 18,976.

W. G. WACHS & R. L. vGALLUP.

GLASS GONVEXING FURNAGE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.1B, 1913.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

misera 'uilhlldilllllll @lllldllm l'. AWM EOCKW'ELL L. GALLUP, OE CHICAGO, ILLNOIS, ASSIGYIOBS T0 HERMAN MQLNER, 0F COCK COUNTY, ILLINOES.

GLASS-CONVEXING FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

'latenteol Bec. ll, i914..

application rues august 1s, isis. serial uc. 735.2191.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, WALTER G. W'Ao-rs and Receivers. L. GALLUP, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of'vCook, and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Glass-Converting Furnaces, of `which the Jfollowing is a specliication.

@ur invention. relates to glass convexing furnaces, particularly to such furnaces for convening' glass plates for picture frames..

In this art straight panes of glass out first usually to circular or elliptical form are laid on dished forming shells and are then heated suciently to sink into and against the shells to take on a convex form. Conveyin mechanism which carries the shells fia-ud p ateos through heating zones in a furnace runway isv provided. In prior furnaces the conveying mechanism, 1n the form of au 1 lendiese heit or chain passes through the furnace and then hack underneath the furnace,

thel glass plates being charged on to the shells'at the receiving. end and taken oft at thedelivery end, only the entrance part of the furnaces having heating mechanism so Y, that the formed plates may have time to lcool :s uciently for lsafe handling before being taken from the shells. Such prior mecha# nism is impractical and ineicient in many Ways. lt requires operators at each end,v those to charge on the plates and those to take them olA of the shells.- Unnecessary strain is also placed on the conveyor mechanisrn as the chain must pass in inverted positionbelow the furnace and thus carry the `weight of the inverteds'hells if left thereon, or the shells would havelto be removed with the convened glasses at the delivery end thus increasing the labor and breakage. Again,

. in order to insure sufficient heating and cool- .,mg the furnace must be very long, necessi- 'tatmg along room' and considerable space which is, of course, very impractical. Additional and more or less complicated mechanism was. also necessary to efliclently guide A the inverted conveyor mechanism below the furnace. Furthermore, this lower half of the conveyor mechanism is idle all the-time,

the device operating, onv this account alone, only at 5,0% efficiency.

Among the important objects of our invention are to provide construction and arrangement' which will reduce the length of thefurnace at least by one-half; to provide a construction and arrangement in which an endless conveyer belt or chain travels always in upright position, and is never inverted; to provide construction which will enable charging and unloading at only one end of the furnace, thus reducing by at least onehalf,V thenumloer of operators; to provide an arrangement in which the 'conveyormecha nism travels in a horizontal plane through a furnace and a cooling tunnel or hood alongside' and parallel with the furnace, charging and unloading taking place at a substantially common point at adjacent ends of the furnace and the cooling or annealing tui-1- nel; to provide improved driving means for the conveyor chain; to provide improved means for automatically compensating for more practical and more eliicient construction and arrangement in devices of the character referred to.

Referring to the accompanying drawings which illustrate the various features of our invention, Figure l is a plan view of the furnace, Fig. 2 is a front elevational view, F ig. 3 is a side view from plane 3'3, Fig. 1, Fig. 4e is an enlarged side. 4view of the conveyer chain with part thereof inI section, Fig. 5- is an enlarged plan view of one of the convcyer trucks, Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan vievir showing an` expansion and contraction bridge arrangement, and Fig. 7 is a sectional view on plane 7 -7 Fig. 4i.

Referring to the drawings the supporting structure comprises two longitudinally eX- tending tables l0 and 11, and tivo end tables l2 and 13, these tables being of any suitable construction but preferably' of metal. The

metal lin'ed by fire resisting or refractory material 16, the floor of the furnace su porting a track 17 for the conveyer chain this track being a sheet metal strip as shown. The table 11 supports the hood or tunnel 18 of sheet metal whose floor supports a sheet metal track band 19 for the conveyor chain.

The front table 12 supports the driving mechanism for the conveyor chain. A vertical shaft 20 to whose upper end a driving sprocket wheel 21 is secured is journaled in lower bearing 22 and upper bearing 23, the lower bearing being supported on the cross beamv 24 and the upper bearing bein mounted on the top 12 of the table. Li ewise a vertical shaft 25 securing at its upper end the sprocket Wheel 26 is Journaled in upper and lower bearings 27 and 28, the lower bearing being supported on cross beam 29.

The. rear table 13 is of substantially the same construction as the front table 12 and vertical shafts 80 and 31 carrying respectively sprocket wheels 32 and 33 are journaled on the table in the same manner as the shafts 2O and 25. These sprocket wheels are in a horizontal plane with the track strips 17 and 19 and the conveyor chain passes about the wheels and centrally through the furnace and the annealing hood or tunnel, as shown.

. The driving shaft 20 has secured to its lower end a driving worm wheel 34 engaged by the worm pinion 35 on transmission shaft 36 which at its front end carries a worm wheel 37, the shaft 36 being journaled infront and rear bearings 38 and 39 supported on beams 40 and 41 forming part of the structure of table 12. Above shaft 36 the shaft 42 is journaled in bearings 43 and '44 supported from table 12, the inner end of this shaft carryingthe worm 45 meshing with worm wheel 37. The shaft 42 may be driven from any suitable source. As shown an electric motor M is the drivin source, its pinion 46 meshing with gear 4 on the outer end of shaft 42. The gearing ratio between the motor and sprocket Wheel 21 is such that the conveyer chain will progress comparatively slowly through the furnace and annealing hood;

Owing to the intense heat, the conveyor chain and its supporting structure will expand and contract, and in order to compensate for such expansion and contraction and to keep the chain reasonably taut, compensating mechanism is provided. This mechanism comprises a carriage T supporting a vertical shaft stub 48 on which is mounted the idler sprocket wheel 49 engaging with and against the outside of the con- Veyer chain between the sprocket wheels 21 and 26 on table 12. Front and rear vertical strutc 50, 50 and 51, 51 on table 12 support lower and upper track beams '52, 53

misere l and 52 53 respectively. The -carriage T has front and rear axles 54 and 55 carrying respectively wheels 54 and 55', these Wheels riding between the track beams 52, 52 and 53, 53', as indicated, and keep the shaft 48 in. vertical position. Extending rearwardl from the carriage T are cables 56, 56 Whic pass over pulleys 57, 57 on shaft 58 jo'urnaled in bearings 59, 59 secured to the rear side of table 12, weights 6l), 60 hanging from. the ends of the cables to exert pull'on cables and carriage, which pull is transmitted through shaft 48 and sprocket wheel 49 tothe chain section between the main sprlgcket' Wheels 21 and 26. 'As the chain expands the weights move down and the slack is takenup, and when the chain contracts the Weights yield. There is thus always yielding lateral tension on the chain tending to keep it taut so that it will move uniformly and smoothly at all times. To allow the carriage to travel back and forth the table top 12 has the transverse slot X through which shaft48 extends.

The construction of the conveyer chain and the shells for supporting the glass plates .is best shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 7. The chain proper comprises inner and outer pairs of links 61, 61 and 62, 62 pivoted together at their ends by pins 63. Each pin, between the inner links, journals a` roller 64, the length of the links corresponding with the pitch of the sprocket wheels so that the rollers may properly eoperate with the sprocket teeth. At regular intervals a link is omitted and a special link, in the form of a supportin frame P is substituted. Each frame has our arms a, c and al extendingv therefrom, each arm having at its end a vertical teat e, the `four teats o? each fra-me serving to support a dishedshell S which may be circular, or ellipitical as shown.. The frame P may replace only outer links 62, but in order to accommodate a greater numbeg of frames and to increase the capacity of the furnace, it may be necessary tof" substitute frames for some of the innerf' links. As shown, alternate frames 1 re. place inner links. .One such arrangement is shown at the right of Fig. 4, and in Lorder to have the shells S atv a common level, the

supporting teats c of thc inner link frames F are longer than those of the outer link frames P, as clearly shown.

A supporting truck D is provided for the chain under each shell supporting frame P, the construction of such trucks being clearly shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 7. The body 65 of the truck has side arms 66 and 66 terminating in rectangular bearing frames 67 and 6 7 for the axles 68 and 68 carrying the wheels 69 and 69 within the frames. The body 65 of the truck engages below the chain link and has confnin rldges 70 and 70 engagingl the sides of t e link to hold heir pyeven; binding. The il' tical, 'inw/ever he utilize "we nien, en@

willi lie link. alie body lmstlie ien the i'inni;

along with tia-e elisain .linemenzbjf n@ reif l 1 jy' lense to 'pieifenl ii. d, expat; inner eenii .cninn nml .mieli Wneels also suii'ieienily lense bands if!" i9 are eine 15mn ein.

een, anniinvei'iei in ammi l 'e end tables as shawn in Fig. 6 .end @ver the breek in the 'furn'aee oi. lined "he iraek being kept in lenf gitudinal mi: by sie Tailles lll-5, 74; extending imm the ,biidge plete; The biidga pleines elfe thin and bei? enfin ense Well veiled in @het alle may travel freely ineneover. ln oi'ler im lioi the clmn 'te in; tinck strips 17 @n 19 in the 'furnace and hood, guide iensfi'i Secnreii; ezljneeni: the track diese irene law ing Haring ends es shown.

The healing means for the fuman@ inny loe of any suiiable censiti-nation und arrangement. is sliovcfifl:1 Gpenings' are provided through the furnace looi adjacent them-nein strip l? enii hiengh these openings imm These openings only allang the from section of the iumace so 'limi ainies are directed s against 4the undersicies of the shells. liuriher, along in the furnace einen ings T9 :l'e provided @losen to the ef lie furnace through which buiners tend, the Eames issuing frein lles@ burners being {lefleeiedjbyf the fui'nace Wells downwmdly ille top of the shells and lie glass plates G lier-ein, The shells enel' glass platee am @thus lnliglaly heated and lie 0iigiwilly straight glass, plaies will bene?, flown into the shell anni' bake the shape tlieeei .After .leaving the furnaee alle formed pleines are cnirefcl ilmeugli the annealing meal 18 ami. are gradually cooled, and may 'be safely lmncllel :imi 'eineved when they mania lille .front liable l". if necessary @ne @eifel eesilgT operaie the furnace, Il: is nenn-".1 p

charge the plates en :En laire snel and the Giner lo remove the 'fein nl i from lie shells and to ssmrfe,v einem eine?.

The plaise-s may lue taken fram the shelln, e1' the shells i'slieniselves wi'l'l @he plaies therein may be removefiend eznygiby Both nien aperebe fre n nimble 13 il@ ani/ei the eem/eye? an siielle Janny engin, and suppeits on said chain for in v1.' L

:Lqs'cenneeing che adjacenl: ends of Seial furnace anal tunnel, an endless chain adepte@ to tm-vel over said tracks, means for conlainunnslgf driving said chain, .end means on said cliain *for supporting glass penes te 2. :in glee@ plate 'forming mechanism the cembination of an endless eonveyer chain niiapeei iso Havel in si hoizonzal plane,-an endings *crack 'for said chain, a furnace suiirnnnding peri of said Hack, an annealing lioo covering anohei part of seid ilmeli', mechanism for continuously driving sai@ glass platee in be formed. l

3. ln glass plate convening mechanism ille einbinaion ef en endless 'horizontal track, n conveye chain adapted to travel Qn seicl israel, ineens on said chain for supporting glass plaies "so be convexed, a furnace Sui'- ieunling pari; oi' seid tia'cli for heating Bhe plaies 7lie chain travels tlleretlirngh, an annealing ilocal covering the mejor pon tion of iemainaler of seid track, and means for eeninnonsly rving said chain.

l'n :i plaie cenveing mechanism,

ne elimini-wen of info imns'eisely extendiidoles; enel infn lengianrlinelly extending' dis-,lis ieieiinrenwli, and an anneal-I ing; hoed en @ne einer lenlturlinally erlennl- 'lese plate @Evening meelianism een lian of tivo imnsvefsely exim-.Ely mi) es, @We lenginflinally enifending in bles inei'pnserl belween the isespecibive @ms of said. "we extending; iebles, seid W31 "n n encliess nncli, en endless rf glass digli suppmtinf nnie l le fol einema miti e munie@ en one o Smal tiene Versely extending tables for continuously `names to this specification in the presence pro elling said chain, a .furnace on one of of two subscribing Witnesses this 12th day 10 sai longitudinally extending tables or of August, A. D. 1913, et Chicago, Illinois.

heating and convexing glass plates on the y WALTER G. WACHS. supporting units as they pass therethrough, ROCKWELL L. GALLUP. and an annealing hood on said other longi Witnesses:

tudinally extending table. C. A. SHAW,

In testimony whereof, We have signed our HERMAN MLNER. 

